This invention relates to belts and conveyors such as, but not necessarily limited to, such conveyors that can be used to transport items from one place to another or that can be used as transmission belts.
Conveyors of the form of endless belts or chains are well known in the prior art. An endless belt comprising a chain or rope and driven at some point along the belt can either carry goods directly on its surface or hanging from buckets or so on connected to the belt. Such a system is described in EP 0 352 047.
Chains and other belts comprising links that are jointed together are well known as requiring frequent lubrication to stop them seizing. Such lubrication is inconvenient.
Another known system is the so-called floating flight scraper conveyor. This comprises usually two endless chains moving along the direction of travel, and a plurality of scraper bars mounted between the chains transverse to the direction of travel, the scraper bars being pivotally mounted relative to the chains. In such a case, the substance to be transported, typically a bulk material such as grain, are scraped by the scraper bars along a casing in which the conveyor is mounted.